10-30-01 Where Did the Elephant Walk? Ivan Delman, DC His free Chiro-Biz newsletter and other articles can be previewed at http://www.BusinessofChiropractic.com. If you have any comments or questions, you can reach him at Ivan@BusinessofChiropractic.com. Perhaps the title is silly but I did get your attention. That¼s one of the important steps in setting up a good ad. However, that¼s not the subject of this article. This article talks about the differences between marketing, public relations, promotions, publicity and advertising. By the way, an elephant really is involved further down the page. Many of us confuse the differences between advertising and marketing. They are two different animals and by knowing their differences, you'll know how to make them work better for your purposes. In essence, marketing is the overall program under which the others, such as advertising, promotion, publicity and public relations are covered. Therefore, looking at it that way, to do the advertising, publicity and so forth to get the maximum benefit for your practice, you should have an idea as to what you want your marketing to do. This involves that dreaded word, „planning¾. Where does the elephant come into this story? I use the elephant to show the differences between different marketing activities. The concepts are well illustrated by the following story: 1. If the circus is coming to town and you post a sign saying, „Circus coming to the Fairgrounds Saturday,¾ that¼s advertising. 2. If you place the same sign on the back of an elephant and walk him into town, that¼s promotion. 3. If our elephant walks through the mayor¼s flower garden, that¼s publicity (good or bad). 4. If you can get the mayor to laugh about his flowers getting trampled, that¼s public relations. 5. If you planned the elephant¼s walk, that¼s marketing. 6. Lastly, if the elephant does what elephants often do, that¼s gardening! OKäNow let¼s get off the elephant and back to marketing. Since we now know that plan is not a four letter word, how do you go put together a Chiropractic marketing plan? The actual mechanics are straightforward and all you need are some guidelines. If you check out the Marketing Guide on my web site www.businessofchiropractic.com it will give you all the steps necessary to put together a marketing plan. The guide has been proven over the course of my active practice. It was developed from marketing information published by the Small Business Administration and customized for Chiropractors. Now, let¼s talk about your marketing plans. When you take a few minutes to analyze your marketing, don't start from where you are right now. It¼s better if you look at your situation and ask yourself, „Is the current condition of the health care market the same as when I started?¾ „Is my marketing (and all the components covered by that term) still working for me?¾ „Did it ever work for me?¾ Start your market planning from ground zero then work up. Don't rely on doing the same old thing again. By starting fresh, you'll change what needs to be changed and eliminate those things that are dragging you and your budget down the slimy slope of negative spending. In other words you'll not be doing the same old things again that didn't work before. One of the activities that feed the information needed to formulate your planning is feedback from your patients. You may have a photographic memory but your lens cover is still on if you don't listen to your patients. (For details, see the article „Listen to Those ComplaintsäThey¼re Important¾) If you think your patients don't want to hurt your feelings and tell you their needs, then get a third party to talk to them. Caution! Don't do a written survey (Oral surveys have a better return and the answers can be better evaluated). Also, don't ask your patients what they don't like about your office. Patients don't like looking stupid. If they continue going to an office where they don't like certain things, that makes them feel less than smart. When we talk to a patient attempting to get feedback on their satisfaction level of our service, our favorite question is, „ How can we make our service to you even better?¾ They then feel part of your growing process. So, in summary: 1. Create a marketing plan for your practice. 2. Evaluate your plan on a periodic basis. 3. Do an oral (not written) survey of your current and prospective patients. 4. Be certain your patients comments are included when planning your marketing plan. 5. Build your advertising and related systems based on your marketing plan. That¼s it! Good luck and I wish you success in reaching your goalsäAnd beyond!